Find the Way to Leave
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day three hundred and twenty: Loaded up on cold medicine, Brittany needs Artie's help to get out.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 14th cycle. Now cycle 15!_

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**"Find the Way to Leave"  
Artie & Brittany **

Once the plan was laid out on how they would all try and bump up their 'glist' status, they had all started to leave… But then they remembered and looked back. Brittany still sat as she had been since they'd spotted her. Her eyes followed, but the rest of her was rivalling statues. The four looked back to one another, the question passed around in silence. Artie was the one to go ahead and speak. "I'll stay with her and make sure she's okay," he declared. One by one the others left, first Kurt, then Mercedes. Tina gave Artie a smile, leaned in.

"Call if you need help," she whispered. He nodded with a smile and she left. He looked back with a sigh.

"Come on, crazy, come on," he whispered to himself as he rolled up to her. She looked back to him. "Hey, Brittany?"

"Yeah?" she spoke quietly.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

"I don't know, can you?" she bobbed her head. "I mean…"

"Right, we'll stay here a while, until that changes… for you." She went on nodding, like she was stuck on a slow up-down command. "Stop, it's okay," he took her hands. "Exactly how many of those pills did you take?" he asked.

"I'm not sure… I counted it in my head, but then I forgot," she explained. "Is it bad?"

"Well it can't be good, can it? You're still talking though, so that's good, right?" She didn't answer. "Now would be the time to show that…"

"Show what?" she frowned. He nodded.

"There we go." Still more frowning.

"Go where, I can't stand up straight." He sighed, shaking his head.

"Forget it, let's just… Let's sit here and talk, right?"

"Right… Do you ever get a flat tire?" Artie blinked at the question. "I mean that has to duck, right? Do you… tip over?"

"Okay, why don't I lead the topics?" he suggested, and she stared back. "How are we doing on standing?" She looked down at her legs.

"I wouldn't recommend it," she shook her head, poking at her knees. "It's like I'm swimming… I'm a really good swimmer, ask Puck," she nodded with a smirk. He was way too confused as to how Noah Puckerman had made it into that conversation. So he drew her back in with more questions.

"Did you really… the janitor?" his face showed how much he wished he could get a reason to erase that image from his mind.

"He's nice… little weird, but nice," she just explained, and Artie had to sigh at how the image was now officially locked in.

"You know, sometimes I wonder… You have this thing like your being a Cheerio makes both complete and no sense at all. Why did you join, was it what you always wanted?" She froze up to stillness with that question, which Artie didn't really understand. But then she blinked, like a reboot. She shrugged.

"I wanted it, always did, it was just part of who I am like it was… always around," she nodded with a simple smile.

"Okay," he decided, wheeling his chair around to show her the back. "Grab the handles, then we can get you started. He heard one thump, then another, one sneaker and then the second being made to touch the ground, followed by a small tug when she grabbed on. "Take it easy, alright? No rush."

"Woah…" she chuckled as she wobbled on to her feet. Artie's chair buckled for a moment, Brittany toppling over and holding on to Artie now for support, one arm around him, one hand on his head. He startled, but managed to hit the brakes before gravity kicked in, bringing them to a stop.

"Brittany, you need to stand back up before you poke my eye out," he stared cross-eyed at his crooked glasses and her finger sitting somewhere at his left eyebrow. She was trembling.

"I don't think I can move."

"You're going to have to. Come on, just a little at a time, starting with finger going up and away from my eye."

"Right, okay," she spoke. He braced himself, shut his eyes, waiting for her to extricate herself from him. She pressed heavier as her hand pulled back, moved to his shoulder so she could pull her left arm from around him and get her hand to his other shoulder. Steadier now, her hands returned to the chair handles. "Good, that… that's good. How are you doing with balance?"

"I'm not sure…" Taking off the brakes, he looked over his shoulder.

"Here we go, just one step and we're off," he told her. He had to imagine she'd do fine.

Not unlike how she'd 'forgotten how to leave,' all she needed was a little direction, a push… well, a pull in this case, really. He'd lead her on, playing the cheerleader between the two of them this time around. He came this close to clapping and motioning with his hands, but he remembered he was playing carriage puller as well as cheerleader's cheerleader. He didn't want another finger near his eyes, or worse…

"There, see? Now where to?" he spoke as he pulled her along. As soon as he'd said it, he thought about where that question could take them. "Actually, let's just find Santana, she'll sort you out…"

"Hey, there's the door…"

THE END

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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